GENEVA — A major mixed-use development proposed for the Geneva American Legion property on Seneca Lake could get a number of City Council approvals next month.
At a special meeting Wednesday night, Council unanimously agreed to set a public hearing for July 7 on the rezoning of the Lochland Road property from agricultural residential to lakefront district. Also by a 7-0 vote, councilors approved a public hearing for the same date on the creation of a planned-unit development for the property. And, Council OK’d an amendment to the city’s zoning code that would create the new lakefront district, also unanimously.
The latter will need a second approval that will likely come at the July 7 meeting.
Councilors Laura Salamendra (Ward 5) and Anthony Noone (at-large) were absent.
Lakefront Development Corp. wants to construct 57 townhouses or condominiums, a five-story hotel, and a restaurant with a craft brewery on the land, which will be sold by the Legion to the company once it gets the city’s go-ahead. City Manager Sage Gerling said that in the series of votes, Council would be “setting the path for the Planning Board to have a deeper dive” into the project as part of its site plan review.
The Planning Board unanimously endorsed the rezoning and the planned-unit development concepts in Lakefront Development’s application.
“Specifically, the Planning Board discussed, among other project details, the anticipated maximum height of buildings, the management of stormwater and drainage as part of the development, building details, including whether units will be constructed with accommodations for ‘aging in place,’” it said in a letter to the city.
The Ontario County Planning Board gave its approval to the project at its May meeting, and sent concerns and questions to the city for consideration.
City Council has some homework ahead of its July 7 meeting, Gerling noted. It needs to review traffic and archeological studies — both considered non-factors at this point — and it will vote on the state environmental quality determination, known as SEQR, at the next meeting.
The development is seen as a major boon to city property tax collections, but just how much the city, school district and county will receive is not known yet.
Ward 4 Councilor Ken Camera asked Gerling if Lakefront Development would seek a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement that would reduce its tax liability.
“I guess we’re going to have to cut them a deal, right?” he asked.
Gerling said it’s likely the company will seek a PILOT.
The PILOT would be approved by the city’s Industrial Development Agency, whose members are appointed by City Council.
Camera assumes the project will cost some $75 million to $90 million to build, and Gerling said the assessment will reflect the construction value to some degree.
However, there also is a question of just what the 57 townhouses are defined as. They have been called condominiums too.
“We’re using the terms interchangeably, and they’re different things,” Ward 1 Councilor Tom Burrall said.
Attorney Wendy Marsh, the city’s outside legal counsel for the project, said the developers are “keeping the option open for the potential to be condominiums.” Condominiums are assessed as much as 50% less, it was pointed out during the discussion.
Conversely, Gerling said, developers are not allowed to apply for PILOTS for the condominiums. The potential PILOT would apply only to the restaurant and hotel and brewery, she said.
Either way, Camera would like Gerling’s staff to work up tax revenue scenarios.
“We could do an estimate of the range,” Gerling said.
